It is well known that various expandable and foldable apparatuses, such as lawn furniture, tables, canopies, and camping equipment, employ detents or detent buttons to connect telescoping tubes and retain movable fittings in a desired position. FIG. 1 illustrates a prior art detent button 10 which is used to connect telescoping tubes 22 and 24. Detent button 10 includes a button 12 which is attached to a spring 14. Spring 14 includes adjacent legs 15 and 16 connected with an arcuate bend. Inner tube 24 includes an aperture 27 formed in its side wall through which button 12 extends. Outer tube 22 is installed over the inner tube 24 and has a corresponding aperture 25 formed through its side wall. Spring 14 urges button 12 through both apertures 25 and 27. In order to release the telescoping tubes from each other, button 12 is manually pushed into the apertures against spring 14 until it clears at least outer tube 22. Detent buttons are also referred to as quick release button connectors, tubing buttons, detent snap buttons, and detents. While a detent button is a convenient way to connect telescoping tubes, a drawback of such a connector is that when manually pressing button 12, a user's fingertip or fingernail may become caught between apertures 25 and 27, thereby pinching, or otherwise injuring, the user's finger.
As shown in FIG. 2, detent buttons are also used in expandable structures, such as expandable canopies, to retain fittings in a particular position. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, a portion of a canopy leg is illustrated. In this example, canopy leg 26 includes a detent button 32 and its associated spring 30. Detent button 32 retains slide fitting 28 in the expanded state against a downward directed force. To collapse the canopy, detent button 32 is depressed by a user's finger 5. Once button 32 is depressed, fitting 28 moves abruptly toward the user's finger. Thus, as with telescoping tubes, releasing a slide fitting on such a canopy may result in a pinched finger or other injury. Accordingly, there is a need for a device that assists a user in depressing a detent button while minimizing the risk of injuring the user's finger.